Pennsylvania Game News - Feburary 2011 - 9

wasn’t allowed to shoot a doe because, under 12, I was hunting thanks to the Mentored Youth Hunting Program. Around 3 o’clock we saw a big buck sprint across the field behind us. On the second day we woke up a little late. Dad and I climbed into the same treestand and my brother sneaked into his area. We saw two does dash out of the pines and into the field. Then I saw a huge buck walking back through the pines. I couldn’t get a shot, so my dad and I tried to call it in with our grunt tube. That was the last we saw of that buck. After a little while I fell asleep. I slept for about 30 minutes, and when I woke up I saw a buck as soon as I opened my eyes. It was in an opening back in the pines, about 75 yards away, and obviously legal. I quietly took my rifle from Dad, rested it on the camouflage bar in front of me, aimed and fired. The buck dropped. “Nice shot,” Dad whispered. When we got to the deer, we saw that it

was a 5-point and the body was huge. My dad field-dressed it for me, and I watched, so I would know how to do it. When he was done I helped drag it over a log so the blood could drain, and then we told my brother about it. I let him sit in the treestand, because we were seeing more deer from there. He saw about four does and a spike, and then it was time to go home. We hung my deer up in the garage and I helped my dad skin it. We cut off the antlers and I hung them in our hunting room with all the other antlers. When we were cutting up the meat I said, “This is gonna be some good eatin’,” and my dad and brother laughed. So as you can see, my hunting experience was the best day of my life. We saw some does and we saw some bucks. My dad and I both got one. This was another good year for the Sheets family.

Trapper’s Tips… Cables for Reds:

By Dan Lynch

To up your chances of catching red foxes in your cable restraints, take time to study your trapping terrain and choose the optimum locations for placing your cables. Because cables are passive traps that work best when the fox is moving along at a normal pace, placing them along active trails is a good idea. An ideal loop size is between six and seven inches in diameter and placed so that the bottom of the loop is six inches off the walking surface. Placing some foxtail or goldenrod stems to either side of the loop to gently fence the trail off so the easiest route is through the loop is also a good idea. Make sure that all regulations are followed regarding your cable sets and have faith that your sets will connect. If you have done your scouting and have your sets placed in good fox habitat, then get ready to find some prime winter reds in your catch circles.
Check out the size of this red taken by JUSTIN MASTROIANNI from Royersford. The fox weighed nearly 18 pounds and from nose to tip of tail was 27 inches.

FEBRUARY 2011

Pennsylvania Game News - Feburary 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - Feburary 2011